Cast

While we’re not the OGs for The Hunger Games fandom and many of our fansite friends predate us, we’ve been around for a while. Victor’s Village was around when The Hunger Games debuted in theaters four years ago today and…

SWEET BABY JESUS! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!

How has to already been four years? How are these movies already done? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were squeeing over the release of the first movie?

We can only say that despite ups and downs, being in this fandom has been an honor and a pleasure. To celebrate, let’s kick it with a few of our favorite geeky fandom moments circa 2012!

1. The Teen Tributes

Today, Theresa from Down With The Capitol reminded us about THE CHART. It filled in as each tribute, most of whom were nameless characters, were announced.

We watched this thing like a kettle of hawks circling its prey (Fun fact: a flock of hawks is called a kettle!) And we all lost our minds!

Though some actors from later movies were social media accessible, the original tributes were teens fresh into their new roles who were just genuinely as excited about The Hunger Games as we were. They were thrilled to be in it, we were thrilled to see them in it. We all fed off each other. There’s a special place in our fandom-loving hearts for Dayo, Jackie, Jack, Alexander (and his slightly inappropriate fan interactions), Isabelle, Amandla, and all the others. There always will be!

2. Snazzy Sayings

Part of what we loved about the cast in the weren’t afraid of being irreverent as all hell and had zero qualms about it. That included tons of hilarious phrases that the fandom picked up with zeal! For instance, on the premiere day back in 2012, I wrote for the people at the premiere to “Liv it up and stay crispy like a boss.”

3. Russ Bowen

Oh, Russ! In case you missed it, Russ was an intrepid North Carolina reporter who basically tried to build up his career on getting The Hunger Games scoop before anyone else. He was really good at getting all the news and for a while, we loved him dearly for it. But after a while, Russ dubbed himself the Perez Hilton of The Hunger Games and it became pretty clear that he was more interested in getting recognition for himself than the series. Needless to say, the fandom collectively let Russ go after a while because he forgot who was boss. Maybe he moved on, but frankly, we stopped paying attention so we wouldn’t know!

4. Umami Burger

The cast of the first movie was OBSESSED with this burger joint. Suddenly, fans all over the world knew about the chain that really only exists in California and a few other major American cities. We knew what burger we wanted to order. Fansite friends went there to grab a bite and it was fucking awesome. Screw Subway, THIS was the unofficial restaurant sponsor of The Hunger Games franchise!

5. Backpackgate

Once upon a time, the fandom didn’t know for sure if Katniss’ backpack was orange. And I made the mistake on one of my earlier Hunger Games Fireside Chat appearances of suggesting that it wasn’t a big deal. SO BEGAN A GREAT DEBATE! It was all in good sport and there were lots of points considered. We dubbed it “Backpackgate 2011”… and in the end, it didn’t even matter because the backpack was totally orange.

Only the straps were black, guys!

6. Panem October

Welcome to the fandom’s first big clash with Lionsgate! Fandom is pretty intuitive, so it’s no major surprise that someone came up with plans for a major interactive Panem-based experience early on, even before movie marketing really began. Naturally, Lionsgate called out their copyright and shut it down. The fans had A LOT TO SAY. Eventually, Panem October did come back, served as an unofficial fan community full o’ fun for a while, then disappeared in the way that many fan-related things do after a while (including official sites.) But seeing the fandom stand up for fanmade creations and Panem October make its return felt like perseverance and victory!

There are so, so many memories of the fandom, but these are the ones that really stick out when we think back to 2012. We couldn’t be more grateful for all of it.

OH HAI! REMEMBER HOW THERE WAS A CONTEST HERE?

BAD NEWS – Some really pathetic “fans” cheated and tried to claim The Hunger Games marathon prize for themselves before we officially launched the contest last night. We weren’t the only site they did it to, either.

GOOD NEWS – We caught those suckers and invalidated their tickets with extreme prejudice! MUAHAHAHAHA!

For you patient LA-based fans who follow the rules and still want tickets to The Hunger Games Marathon Event, we’ll relaunch the contest later today, but we’re not going to tell you when!

Much love and respect for everyone waiting patiently for their tickets. We’re thrilled to be able to give you another opportunity!

Traveling to several countries around the world is everyone’s dream, but most of us don’t intend to do it over the course of ten days or so. You’ve got to hand it to The Hunger Games cast, they take it in stride, especially considering… THE DISEASE!

Maybe it’s that November chill, as it’s only seemed to take hold during Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1 premiere and press seasons took place, but oh, does it hit the cast hard!

Hunger Games Premieritis!

At least that’s what we’re calling it! It’s a combination of various illnesses including colds, the flu, strep throat, stomach viruses, etc. and sheer exhaustion. And simply, we’re in awe of the cast for powering through it like absolute champs!

What’s a little strep throat among friends?!

Jen and Josh are the main sufferers this year so far, but last year it seemed to have swept through the majority of the cast in its many forms. At last year’s LA fan camp, we were lucky to have Josh, Sam, Jena, and Jeffrey all come out to sign for the fans. However, LA stands as the final leg of the CF and MJ1 press tours and it was clear to see that the cast was ready to crash. They were super friendly and gracious, but they looked utterly exhausted and Josh was bundled up in a big leather jacket and a knit cap on a day where the weather was a bit over 70F. And because we’re all sympathetic human beings, there’s a part of us that says “I feel so freaking bad for them.”

But that rightthere is why we all need to give this cast a million gold star stickers and lollipops to make them feel better. Surely they don’t enjoy being rushed around the world with various stages of premieritis cramping their style, but you know what? They do it. For us! Because we lap up all of this press and stand in line for days at the premiere venues, they push through it even when they probably just want to cuddle under the covers all day. They go on the red carpets and the tv shows where the occasional pundit will try to shame them for “not looking good” as they try not to cough a lung up, because the fans are also in the same vicinity hoping to see them. And that is fucking dedication!

Might we even call them badasses? We say yes, as Elizabeth Banks hosts a YouTube segment called “Ask A Badass” that an unknown female from the cast recorded with her in the midst of all the insanity. GIF PREVIEW TIME!

Hopefully those cast members who have been mostly immune to premieritis so far (We’re looking at you, Sam Claflin and Elizabeth Banks!) will remain so and the rest of Mockingjay Part 1 promotion can go on relatively painlessly for the cast. In the meantime, let’s recognize this condition and give the cast a big thumbs up for all they do!

Because We’d End Up Fainting On That Red Carpet, Bro.The Girl With The Pearl

Every now and then, we see a casting announcement for one of The Hunger Games actors and think “PERFECT!” This is especially true when it’s one of the young tributes from the first film, because we get all sentimental about the fledgling careers of budding young actors. They were just baby tributes yesterday! *sniffle*

#Swag #Boss Remember those days?!

When we heard earlier this week that Dayo Okeniyi has gone from Thresh to a lead role in Terminator: Genesis, we were pretty stoked. Dayo will be playing the adult version of Skynet creator Miles Dyson’s currently unnamed son, who almost met his fate at a young age in Terminator 2, but apparently lived through the apocalypse after that.

In the world of action movies, the Terminator films are surprisingly more tolerable than most, even in their later versions. We’re actually way more knowledgeable about this series than should ever be warranted. There isn’t a full plot breakdown yet, but this looks like the original Terminator retold mainly from the post-Skynet POV. Lots of time travel and all. And whether the plot is good or not, this movie is going to get a looooot of attention for Dayo!

Because that’s not creepy… *hides*

The newness of Dayo’s character in the future setting could mean a couple things: 1) Because he’s not deeply rooted in the mythology, he’s easy to kill off or 2) Because the mythology says Kyle Reese and John Connor both kick the bucket, Dyson Jr takes over as leader of the rebels. We’re hoping for the latter, because Dayo is a bona fide actor and we know he deserves better roles than the smartass best friend in a romantic comedy. We mean… his last movie was Endless Love. Ouch.

This, along with roles like Alexander Ludwig on Vikings and Jack Quaid’s upcoming HBO pilot, only helps prove that there were some really stellar actors even in the not-so-big roles in The Hunger Games. We wish we saw more of it! But, ya know, we’re cool most of those actors finishing high school before they bombard the big and small screen!

Who knows! At this rate, I just may have to fancast several ex-tributes in the inevitable “re-imagined” versions of popular movies!

Hollywood is not a nice place, okay maybe it is on the surface. The sun’s out 90% of the time, people smile a lot, they’re tan, and fashionable for the most part, but you know what? Beyond all that surface crap, it’s a really cut throat, superficial place, and populated also in part by some pretty disingenuous souls. Which brings me to this fact: We’ve got some more than nice people populating the cast of our favorite franchise.

Jennifer Lawrence, quirky-no-filter Jen is the head of the nice cast. Or at least she’s never come off as faking her weird, or the gratitude for the exceptional places her career has taken her over the last several years. She’s too odd, and unapologetic for her personality traits to be a back stabbing, evil, Hollywood starlet like so many we’ve seen and heard about over the years. Great for us I think, because it means if we run screaming at her down the street (don’t do it kids), she’ll maybe not snub us if we give her a compliment, and of course tell her she needs to be our best friend (also don’t do this kids).

Which brings me to this other fact: Sometimes the really nice people who populate the cast of our favorite franchise are nice even to us– personally. If you haven’t noticed over the last few years here at Victor’s Village when we write about the cast, we don’t exclusively write about the principles, i.e. Jen, Josh, Liam, and Woody. No, we also write about the other players, the Amandla’s, the Dayo’s, the Jackie’s, the Jeffrey’s, the Meta’s, and the Bruno’s. So, here’s the deal– one of those people has been very nice back to us, and we have to acknowledge that right here, and right now, because it’s the right thing to do damn it.

Bruno Gunn– we’ve written about him more than a handful of times, and he has returned the favor in a rather public, and perfect way. This is how it begins, several months ago The Girl With The Pearl and I were in LA to attend the US premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and we decided as a team that we should wear matching Victor’s Village t-shirts to the fan camp grounds down at LA Live to stand out as more than just random fans milling about aimlessly waiting for Sam Claflin to show up– which he did, and he was also a genuine, and pleasant chap.

Yep, this happened

Conveniently we were photographed in those t-shirts, and well– Bruno saw them, because as we should all know by now he’s very up on social media. Long story short, he told us through the magic of social media that he wanted a Victor’s Village t-shirt. Well, we got him one, and we sent it to him– and finally he had a good place to sport it proudly and publicly, and no we don’t mean at the gym, although that would be okay with us as well. Nope we mean a much better place than the gym, we mean at The Hunger Games: Catching Fire DVD/ Blu-Ray release in Chicago this past week. So in freezing cold climes he dawned his short sleeved black and yellow Victor’s Village t-shirt, and posed graciously with fellow fans, talked with parents of fans, more fans, and also gave our little site that could, some pretty snazzy free advertizing. Can I get a big giant “hell yeah!” And also add an equally giant “thank you!”?

Guess being all inclusive pays off every now and again, huh? Now to get Sam to read our blog and forgive the fandom for being asshats when he was first cast, ’cause we were– and we’re sorry.

Surprise! We got our copy of Entertainment Weekly and it was the Gale cover! Muahahaha!

Given our take on Peeta Paranoia, we obviously don’t mind! Especially now that people can stop complaining about the “manning up” line now that it’s been explained that Josh Hutcherson and Francis Lawrence simply didn’t want Peeta to be seen as a hopeless damsel in distress.

Epic in the story!

But more than the talk of actual movie related tidbits, we were impressed with something else: What making the movies means to those involved.

First, there’s what happened on the Catching Fire set. Everyone cites the camaraderie between the cast and crew, but it’s not the usual “Yeah, we get along!” There’s BBQs and inside jokes and a slightly more mature extension of the “summer camp” feel described on The Hunger Games set.

Jennifer specifically described a moment in which the whole cast and crew held hands and ran into the ocean together in the dark. First off, we are TOTALLY recreating that with fansite friends at the Catching Fire premiere. Second, it seems like such a trusting, genuine notion that it warms our hearts! You don’t let just anyone pull you into the ocean with the hope no one drowns.

Then there’s the talk of THE END. While no actor wants to be in a series so long that they’re typecast as that character, but Jennifer Lawrence seems downright distraught at the idea of it being over. Josh Hutcherson was quick to admit that he never, ever expects to encounter another set where the relationships are that special.

Epic in Real Life!

We know that sentiment gets shared a lot, especially for fantasy series starring mainly young actors. But that doesn’t make it any less true! We think there’s something about immersing yourself in fantasy that brings people together LIKE WHOA! Digging into a world that is totally different than your own is a way to escape, even in your daily life. And it effects everyone, if they choose to embrace it. (We think it’s pretty funny that Jen also commented on how Philip Seymour Hoffman took a while to adjust, given all his time on so many “This is my job and I’m trying to win an Oscar, dammit!” movies.)

And even if it doesn’t win them any Oscars– because we wish the world works that way, but frankly, it doesn’t– it’s good to know that the cast is doing it for more than that and enjoying it too!

Besides being really choice photos of the actors, we think these photos reveal a lot about the characters and what THEY have to say! So we took a shot at translating some character thoughts presented in these images. Enjoy!

“I’m trying to stay cool, but I’m pretty sure this full body suit just split down the middle…”

If you’re reading this, you probably spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about The Hunger Games… or you’re looking for photos of Jennifer Lawrence naked or fictional character porn (those are still among some of our most popular search terms, so now we can’t stop making fun of people for it, which leads more people looking for these things here. It’s a vicious cycle!) We’ve read the books. And re-read. And re-read probably several other times. We remember all the tiny details. We analyze it all. WE REGRET NOTHING.

Naturally, we want the Hunger Games movies, as well as the advertising campaigns behind them, to be as thorough as possible. We want all the things. Sadly, fans need to realize something really, really important if we want to keep our sanity: We won’t get everything we want!

We get it! We like looking at pretty people too!

When the Capitol Portraits were released this past week, There was a bit of an outrage when President Snow turned out to be the last one. What about Enobaria? What about Blight? Where are the morphlings?

We can’t wait to see these characters in the movie too, but let’s all calm our ovaries here. These aren’t the tribute headshots released for the first film, which were probably from hair, makeup, and costume test shots. The Capitol portraits are elaborate, filled with drama, fashion, nuance, and high caliber chairs! We’re also guessing they ain’t cheap!

Most importantly, the Capitol Portraits tell a story about each character. In one snap we see who they are, where they came from, and why they’re important to the books. Every character is important in their own way (which is kind of like when your elementary school teacher explains that everyone is special), but some are not as important as we want them to be.

Hilarious, but not quite the same!

Bruno Gunn, for example, is our homeslice. He already reads our posts and tweets us pretty regularly. We do a happy dance every time while outwardly pretending it’s no big deal (HI BRUNO!) Naturally, we’d love to see him get a Capitol Portrait, but the thing is that it’s not HIS portrait, it’s his character’s. Brutus is a big ol’ Capitol lackey from District 2. He’s a not-so-centralized part of the pre-Games events, then he causes some chaos in the arena, then PEETA KILLS HIM. That’s about all we got. It’s not much to go on. What would his outfit be and what would it say about him? What would his chair allude to? How would his alliances be depicted?

As much as we wonder about Wiress and Cashmere and Gloss’ studly shoulders, there’s something to be noted about these characters. They are MINOR characters, ones that don’t even make it to Mockingjay. You can love them (we do!) but Lionsgate isn’t going to concern themselves with getting new fans to fall in love with them.

When Catching Fire comes around, those minor characters you’ve been waiting to see will still be there. By November, we bet you’ll even be glad that all of their details weren’t given out in the very first advertisements (disappointingly early release of the wedding dress, anyone?!)
Take It Down A Notch! They’ll Still Be In The Movie!
The Girl With The Pearl

Thought of a really fun post, but it involves those Catching Fire set photos that everyones been talking about! To be fair, it is UNDER THE CUT (or further down the page, if you’re already in the full page link!)

Here comes that super repetitive reminder that we’re three.different.writers. with different opinions. For instance, Them There Eyes is really not a fan of these things. However, I’m more lenient. Personal preference: We dig it! These photos have been up on the Internet for days without any sites receiving notifications to remove them, so we’re not secretly, scandalosuly posting them against the will of the mothership. Breathe in, breathe out!

Plus, we’re gonna get hella wicked maaaaad funny with it!

In short: You have been warned. We have explained our position. Nobody is making you look if you don’t want to. QUIT YA BITCHIN.